SoO Best spec, SV or BM by boss?

[Deleted]

I've been BM for normal modes all this patch so far. Today we killed Immerseus 25HC, and in the end I was "forced" to go SV for it. BM just have huge issues with the fight, due to pet regularly despawning and the phase 1 adds being kinda spread out (at least we never managed to keep all the "waves" together). As BM I was usally around #5-10 on recount (depending a lot on whether pet despawned or not). When I switched to SV I was steady #1-3.

Had a number of pulls on Protectors HC as BM. It felt decent, but I can see SV being very good there as well. Might try it next raid.

I've had that issue aswell. forcing me to go SV for that fight but if that issue can get fixed I stand by my previous post in stating that if played correctly BM can and will pull ahead.

[Deleted]

Why would AoE be better with BM?

Beast Cleave combined with Beastial Wrath is absolutely ridiculous for clumped up aoe. Especially with AoC trinket putting BW on a 40~ second CD. SV aoe is more suited to aoe that is a bit more spread.

[Deleted]

To OP: (25man perspective)
bm is good for sha of pride if the adds are mass gripped in ( they should be ) and the banishments should be close to the boss so that pet travel time is really short.
For dark shamans both are good. If you use the split tactic ( one range group and one melee ) the adds can easily be killed by a barrage and a beast cleave.
Galakras: i found both survival and bm good but i've only ever been on gnome duty soo :/
For the ones you've missed:
Malkorok: single target fight with some adds on heroic, they can and should be gripped so beast cleave is adequate for it.
Spoils: Either are fine, adds aren' t up that long that black arrow lasts its entire duration ( might need some burst for the large crates however ).
Thok: single target with just the jailor to switch too, take your pick really.
Paragons: Kinda single target as you can only kill one at a time.
Garrosh: Phase one, adds are around boss so cleave is good as well as ss spreading. Phase 2 and 3 are pretty much single target other than the mind controls and whirling adds that are killed very quickly. I've gone bm for it twice because it performs so well.

[Daetur]

In my limited experience, I've had the following results on the first handful of normal mode bosses, just to add my anectdtal evidence to the pile:

Immersius:
I prefer Survival, my pet tends to despawn randomly during the fight.

Protectors:
BM has, I feel, better burst for the Desperate Measures phases.

Norushen:
I'd never choose to go Surv. on this fight right now. Because my pet easily and automatically positions himself behind the adds during the cleanse phase, BM has a nice quality of life "boost" for me. Of course, your mileage may vary-- my job on the fight is to go down to clean first and then just tunnel the boss. If I spent more time on adds, I might prefer Surv.

Sha of Pride:
BM has great burst AoE for Reflections and great burst damage for the sub-30% burn phase.

Galakras:
BM with Assurance trinket has BW up at the start of every add wave, which is VERY nice. Also provides better on-demand burst if you're in the tower group for the minibosses.

Iron Juggernaut:
No strong preference either way. I've had my pet go Passive randomly on it a few times, seemingly after a Shock Blast? Not sure what's up with that.

Dark Shaman:
Survival. Root traps for the adds, better spread AoE for the adds, don't have to worry about your pet getting gibbed by Ashen Wall and screwing your dps.

Nazgrim:
No strong preference. I like BM because having burst for the Berserker Stance phase feels great.

[aarjun]

Why would AoE be better with BM?

Because the sparks and small adds don't have much hp and most strats involve spawning them constantly to meet the heroic timer. You'll do more aoe damage at 5 stacks of frenzy without having to cast as many Multi-Shots and have more time to focus on the large adds.

Also, with AoC and 4p, you do insane Beast Cleave damage with BW. I had tried both SV and BM in mogu room and SV didn't even come close to overall throughput, since everything except large adds kept dying in seconds.

[mistahwilshire]

I've gone BM for every fight. Tried SV for Spoils because theoretically it should be great but I performed much much worse.

I love SV too and played it for a very long time but I'm not seeing how it's even remotely close to BM so far this tier. I haven't gotten 4pc yet either which I'm sure helps an utter fuckload.

SV is extremely underwhelming without it thus far imo.

[Perrito]

Why would AoE be better with BM?

because how beast cleave Works. is mostly brust AOE, also capable of doing close if not more aoe damage than survival aoe that needs time to tick. is just a superior spec, maybe not in live but in paper is a more polished spec.

the problems with survival is mostly due to mastery being so bad, spec dosnt scale well (even tho i hate that Word scale) with haste or mastery. now you rely on black arrow to proc LnL during AOE so now isnt clear if black arrow is worth keeping during aoe. old garbage still remain in this spec while bm was more polished is just a pain because you are forced to relly on your pet do deal your damage.

[Deleted]

I did this weeks farm (first 12 bosses) as SV and I just enjoy the spec more in this instance with how the fights work except for the pure singletarget fights, just so much smoother spec and not being reliant on the pet being in melee range on adds or w/e. This is from a 10m perspective, it might be different in 25m.

And my damage compared to last week with only a minor upgrade was higher on all fights but Galakras, and the DPS difference will only become bigger once I can get 4 set.

Yes, this is 100% useless information due to it being entirely anecdotal.

[rizyukaizen]

For the Dark Shamans SV is really the only way to go. I been doing it on Flex on my hunter and the pulls my pet just get nukes in around 1min into the fight. And unless you can totally see where your pet died by the time they are clear of what AOE took them out *most likely one of the ash walls* your DPS just tanks.

[Hayro1]

It's entirely the tanks fault if your pet dies, he can easily move the boss ~10 yards away, and yes it is 100% Ashen Wall, considering the slimes do next to nothing.

[Deleted]

Immerseus and Dark Shamans SV, rest BM yo. BM has better single target and AoE dps (simming in my 560 ilvl gear anyways) so if you want to min/max and you play it perfect go BM.
On immerseus and dark shamans BM is almost impossible to play perfect; immerseus because your pet has loads of downtime switching between adds and on dark shamans simply because it keeps dying due to ashen walls (fix please blizz). On the rest of the fights I have no problems with my pet so I go BM for maximum DPS.

As a side note though, SV and BM are ridiculously close to each other in their current state, and since SV is a little more forgiving rotation wise; most people will do more dps in survival.

TL;DR If you think you can play BM perfect on the boss -> BM. Else SV

[Conjor]

Immerseus:
MM

Fallen Protectors:
MM

Norushen:
MM

Sha:
MM

Galakras:
MM

Iron Juggernaut:
MM

Dark Shaman:
MM

Malkorok:
MM

Spoils:
MM

Thok:
MM

Blackfuse:
MM

Paragons:
MM

Garrosh:
MM

But seriously, just play whatever spec you want for each fight. If the fight has AoE, then play Survival. If the fight is single target based, play BM or MM.

[minkage]

BM is a no brainer for nazgrim by pure virtue that the pet dosnt generate rage in defensive stance. Put your pet on the boss the entire fight and KC/DB on CD.

Survival on Galakras, Dark Shamans and Spoils.

[Insanyti]

Last night I did the first 10 bosses all as BM with TotH, Blink and Glaive.

The only fights I noticed any difference in execution was from when I was SV on Galakras. My dps *seemed* to be about the same, though it just FELT as though the adds were dying slower.

I'll be going SV for Garrosh since we are having issues with the adds not dying fast enough and we end up getting overwhelmed.

With all the recent changes to each spec I give the following advice:
UNLESS YOU ARE IN A TOP US/WORLD RAIDING TEAM, PLAY THE SPEC YOU ARE MOST COMFORTABLE WITH.

If you take a player who is a Master of playing one spec and pit them up against someone who isn't entirely used to or comfortable with either of the other two, more than likely the player who is SURE of their spec and COMFORTABLE with it will out perform the others.
What some players may not realize is that PLAY STYLE has a lot to do with personal damage/dps too. The person in front of the computer makes one heck of a difference.

[Dorakko7]

Malkorok:
BM at 100%... its single target

Spoils:
I tried both but i prefer BM because of aoe burst and burst on the big box adds

Thok:
BM single target

Blackfuse:
BM single target...there is some adds but not much

Paragons:
Since you need to focus one id say BM...you can go Survival if you want to top dps on your chart but multidoting is useless

Garrosh:
Surv and BM can work...i have killed him as surv

[aarjun]

BM is a no brainer for nazgrim by pure virtue that the pet dosnt generate rage in defensive stance. Put your pet on the boss the entire fight and KC/DB on CD.

Survival on Galakras, Dark Shamans and Spoils.

Target switching is terrible as BM and on heroic, you are required to do this quite often between the banner that spawns close to the boss and adds/totem that spawn scattered in the back of the room. I had more success as SV sticking the pet on the boss full time, while I was free to multi-dot and take care of the adds. Depends on your raid though if they're ok with you having less damage on the adds.

[Puerto]

BM ALL THE THINGS!! srs

Don't listen to the people that say target switching as BM is terrible, because it is not. Macro /petattack into your Kill Command and Multi Shot and you are good to go.

[Poppincaps]

BM ALL THE THINGS!! srs

Don't listen to the people that say target switching as BM is terrible, because it is not. Macro /petattack into your Kill Command and Multi Shot and you are good to go.

....Are you being sarcastic? As a rogue I can click on a boss. Doesn't mean I'm going to attack the fucking thing. Just because you send your pet to attack it doesn't mean it's going to attack it instantly unless you are fortunate enough to have blink strikes up. BM target switching does suck.

[Puerto]

....Are you being sarcastic? As a rogue I can click on a boss. Doesn't mean I'm going to attack the fucking thing. Just because you send your pet to attack it doesn't mean it's going to attack it instantly unless you are fortunate enough to have blink strikes up. BM target switching does suck.

No, I really am not. Unless what you need to attack is in BFE, you shouldn't have any trouble target switching as BM. Yes Blink Strikes has an internal cooldown, but Kill Command does have a 25 yard range. If your pet is within 25 yards, it will rush to the target and do its Kill Command, making targeting switching fairly easy.

[eschatological]

Dash costs 0 focus now, and BS is a 20s CD. If you're switching constantly, maybe SV is a better option, but these aren't the days of Heroic Will of the Emperor, where BM was just horrible due to the long distances the pet had to run.